Telangana girl who committed suicide for failing exam declared passed

A 15-year old girl from Hyderabad, who committed suicide after failing in the Intermediate first year (Class 11) examinations, was declared passed following re-verification of her answer sheet 40 days after she took her life.

Arutla Anamika, who appeared for the Intermediate examinations at Pragati Mahavidyalaya in Koti, committed suicide at her grandmother’s place at Bansilalpet in Secunderabad on April 18, on the same day when the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) results were declared.

Her memorandum of marks uploaded on the website showed she got only 20 marks out of 100 in Telegu.

On Saturday, her sister Udaya downloaded her marks sheet uploaded by the board authorities along with that of other students three days ago after re-verification, she found that Anamika had secured 48 marks and she was declared passed.

There were allegations of large scale anomalies in the evaluation of answer papers and tabulation of marks by the Intermediate board. As many as 26 students had committed suicide after the results were declared.

Following a hue and cry by parents and students who stormed the Intermediate Board office for several days, the Telangana government ordered recounting of marks and re-verification of answer sheets free of cost of three-lakh students who had failed.

Simultaneously, state child rights association also moved the high court, which ordered that all the answer sheets of the students be scanned and uploaded on the website, after recounting and re-verification. The court had given deadline of May 27 for uploading the results along with the scanned copies of the answer sheets.

Though the board announced the revised results late on May 27, it took three more days for uploading the complete answer sheets. A total of 1137 students had their marks increased after the re-verification.

BIE secretary A Ashok said none of those who had failed had actually cleared the examination and they would have anyway passed even after re-verification and recounting.

But Anamika was found to have passed the examination by securing 28 more marls. “It is a clear case of goof-up by the Intermediate board. The secretary of the board should be arrested immediately on the charges of abetting suicide,” child rights association president P Achyuta Rao said.

“We will update the High Court about the actual result and seek the arrest of the board officials”, he said.